There is one married lesbian couple in Texas right now. Probably. Last week a judge allowed Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant to obtain a marriage license, citing urgency after Sarah was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The ruling applies only to this one couple. And according to state officials, that's still one couple too many.

One bit of minor calendar news before we get on with it: for the next two weeks, this column will be on hiatus. Instead, it will be pre-empted by our annual awards columns where we note the notable and laud the laudable from the past year.

"This isn't a damn game!" House Speaker John Boehner said Friday at a news conference on the budget stalemate that has led to the government shutdown. Really Mr. Speaker? The government shutdown is, in fact, a direct result of political gamesmanship by the Republicans.

Huelskamp is going to continue to try and block same-sex marriages by amending the U.S. Constitution and introducing the Federal Marriage Amendment. Here's the most laughable part: Congressman Huelskamp's home state of Kansas isn't even backing him.